Monthly Archives: September 2013

By: Mollie Lastovica Recognized for their commitment to underrepresented populations and students, Associate Professor Manuel Piña, Ph.D. and Professor Carlos Gonzalez, Ph.D., received the 2013 Deans Outstanding Achievement Award for Diversity. Created in 2012, the Deans Outstanding Achievement Awards recognize administrators, faculty, staff and student for their efforts in bettering the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Piña has worked and taught in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications since 1974. In his 29 years in the department, he has made great strides in championing underrepresented… Read More →

By Caitlin Powers A passion for teaching is evident in the classroom, in the conversations with students and now on the wall for assistant professor Jennifer Williams, Ph.D. Williams, better known as Dr. Jen to her students, will have two teaching awards to display on her office wall making her passion for teaching even more evident. Williams was selected to receive two teaching awards – the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for College-Level Teaching and the Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Scholars Award. “It means… Read More →

By: Caitlin Powers The ALEC department has a new assistant lecturer, J.P. Hancock, who will be teaching agricultural science courses that he once took at Texas A&M. “Since I have been in the teaching field I have wanted to come back and do exactly what I am doing now,” Hancock said, “teaching skills to our future teachers.” For the past three years Hancock taught night classes at Rudder High School with Professor Tim Murphy, Ph.D.. Prior to teaching with Murphy, Hancock taught at Sealy High School for 26… Read More →

By: Mollie Lastovica With countless relationships in academia across the world, it comes as no surprise that the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications welcomes visiting scholar Sevtap Gumus, Ph.D., to campus for the year. Gumus arrived in College Station in June on sabbatical and will stay through June 2014. A native of Turkey, Gumus is an Associate Professor at EGE University in the Department of Agricultural Economics. Her visit to Texas A&M University for academic and research purposes is supported by the Turkish government and, specifically,… Read More →

By: Caitlin Powers ALEC faculty traveled to the American Association for Agricultural Education’s annual national conference in Columbus, OH in May. At the conference three major research awards are presented and assistant professor John Rayfield, Ph.D. received all three, a feat that has not been achieved by an individual before. “It was a very humbling experience,” Rayfield said about the receiving the awards. “It is one of those freaky things where the stars all had to align.” Rayfield was filled with disbelief as the presenters continued to call… Read More →

By: Caitlin Powers Faculty from the ALEC department at Texas A&M and Texas Tech University’s Agricultural Education and Communications department met in Lubbock August 19-21 to launch the sixth cohort of Doc@Distance. The joint doctoral program is open to individuals seeking a Doctor of Education in Agricultural Education. Doc@Distance students primarily utilize an online learning management system to access course material and occasionally connect by video conferencing that allows individuals to earn the degree no matter their location. “To be able to have a joint doctoral program with… Read More →

By: Mollie Lastovica Traveling 7,890 miles across four states in the Southwest, six undergraduate students, one grad student and two faculty members were part of a unique research experience this summer. Created by Assistant Professor Billy McKim, Ph.D., the students spent five weeks in a College Station classroom, four weeks on the road and one week wrapping up to earn credit for AGCJ 404, technical writing, AGCJ 481, senior seminar and AGCJ 491, undergraduate research. Each student created a research proposal and worked to collect data for major… Read More →

By: Mollie Lastovica Twelve representatives of the Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications attended the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, May 19-23. Of the ALEC attendees, four brought home honors and recognition. Professor James Lindner, Ph.D., received the Outstanding Leadership Award and was inducted as a Fellow for the organization. Assistant Professor Theresa Murphrey, Ph.D., was inducted as a Fellow and Professor Gary Briers, Ph.D., received Senior Fellow recognition. Winning the Outstanding Early Achievement Award was Assistant… Read More →